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Benchmarking innovation The ’s Management Building and sustaining innovation Articulating innovation Practices Impacting Innovation

Risk no matter what; stay the course or innovate?

Pope Francis’ innovation challenge

March 15, 2013

The Church is at a critical state and everybody knows it. Whether to assume the risk associated with change or the risk of staying the course is the question. Without risk, there is no innovation. The leadership ‘style’ of the new and management by the Curia is likely in for a change.

Table of Contents We explore the management practices of the Catholic Church in order to understand more about the Church’s approach to innovation. How do the Overview to the Church’s Innovation Church’s management practices stack up against highly-innovative companies? Is Issues the question even relevant to a faith-based organization? We think so. Thought Starters for Innovative Actions Overview to the Church’s Innovation Issues Catholic Church Innovation The Catholic Church is the world’s largest Christian Church with 1.1951 billion 2 CIOs Profile of Management members worldwide . Its mission is to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ, Practices Impacting Innovativeness administering sacraments and exercising charity. Pope Benedict, at his last speech in public, made the point that the Church is not his nor the flock’s but is Appendices the church of Jesus Christ. A. Organization of the Church – from a management and corporate Most people would say that innovation is not the Catholic Church’s strong point perspective and others might say that innovation is irrelevant to the policies and management practices of a faith-based organization. But there are implications which arise as a result of

1 Agenzia fides, Special Issue – Vatican World Mission Day – Catholic Church Statistics 2012, http://www.fides.org 2 Wikipedia The Catholic hierarchy is led by the Pope and includes cardinals, patriarchs and diocesan bishops. The Church teaches that it is the one true Church divinely[3][4][5][6] founded by Jesus Christ,[7][8] that its bishops are the successors of Christ's apostles and that the Pope is the sole successor to Saint Peter who has apostolic primacy. 2

not adapting and responding to change. Are there some lessons which can be learned by a faith-based organization from the way highly-innovative corporations approach innovation? Yes, there are.

The Church’s problems such as inaction regarding in-church sexual Personal Statement issues, dysfunction at senior levels, are in some ways, very similar to the problems faced by large corporate organizations. Unless I am not a member of the Catholic Church addressed, these issues can put the institution at risk, not so much nor of any other religious organization yet I for survival but by hampering efforts to expand globally or, in the appreciate and value those who have faith. case of the Catholic Church in the developed world, arrest decline. My sole objective in writing this paper is to Corporations have survived for decades, even centuries, and at explore the notion of innovation and the the same retain a set of core values which do not change. Most management practices which encourage however adapt and change by responding to industry, market, change whether in a private-sector technology and consumer developments while at the same time corporation or in a faith-based organization. working to retain core values. By so doing it is hoped that those who opt Are some of the changes which are proposed to Church practices, for change will better understand what can policies and programs, those which do not involve modifying its and must be done to improve innovation and core values, inhibited by virtue of its current management achieve the ‘deliverables’ desired by their practices? Technology, amongst other drivers of change, has leadership. dramatically altered the manner of conducting business without altering corporate core values of many corporations.

As to core values, the more fundamental issue of change, is it likely that the Church will be able to sustain its current organization and policies without adapting to the obvious desires of its current and potential flock, priests and bishops?

Some of the major issues which need to be addressed by the Church are similar to those faced by most global corporations.

The Church’s support base – in a sense its clients, its customers, or those who believe in the Church are diminishing in key markets such as Europe, Brazil and North America. While overall global growth is .04% over the year to 2012 growth is negative in Europe. Brazil’s Catholic population represented 89% of the population in 1980 and has 3

now declined to 60%3.

Growth has been in the less developed markets4 such as Mexico (83%) and the Philippines (81%). Significant growth is, however, taking place in Africa – sub-Saharan including Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire in particular -where congregations are overflowing with attendees5 in spite of, or because of, preaching against contraception and abortion.

In recent polls6 amongst U.S. Catholics it is strongly suggested that the Church is out of touch with lay opinion on such issues as contraception, same-sex marriages and the role of women in the Church. On the other hand, the same survey reported a high degree of satisfaction with the role played at the local level by parish leaders in spite of being concerned with the Vatican’s stance on these and other important issues.

There is little penetration of several of the fastest growing populations in the world such as India and China. Perhaps not a major concern of the Church at this time, but as a growing ‘market’, it could concern those in the Church who have global aspirations. When corporations roll out globally, one of the first steps is to establish an organization in the target market. Not just for sales but, for example, R&D centers most recently such as with GE and John Deere and their investments in Russia, Brazil and India.

Competitive beliefs, including the growth of agnostics, atheists, Pentecostalism and secularism, are intensifying and growing stronger than at almost any time in history. For example, Islamic and Evangelistic movements are growing globally by attracting significant numbers of new followers. At the end of the next decade it is projected that 50% of the population of Brazil will be represented by evangelical churches7.

The Church is seen by many to be lacking the ability and/or the desire to root out those in the Church who commit acts deemed unacceptable to most members including its own Church administration. Pawning off sexual issues by transferring offenders from one parish to another diocese is seen as totally ineffectual. Church management seems to be ‘in irons’ with respect to effectively dealing with these issues.

Broad policy issues such as whether the clergy should have the right to marry, the condoning of same-sex marriages, and sexual teachings on abortion and contraception, are creating schisms in the Church. Dysfunction at the most senior levels is evident.

Long-standing organizational arrangements are unwinding as evidenced by Cardinal O’Brien abandoning his main role in being part of the group electing a new pope8. At no time in history has a

3 CBC National broadcast from Rio de Janeiro, March 10, 2013 4 % refers to the 5 of population recorded as Catholic 5 CBC National broadcast, March 10, 2013 6 “U.S. Catholics in Poll See a Church Out of Touch” – March 6, 2013, 7 CBC National broadcast from Rio de Janeiro, March 10, 2013 8 Cardinals play hardball, MacLean’s Magazine, March 11, 2013 4

Cardinal willingly recused himself from this most important role. The resignation of Pope Benedict XV1 is, in itself a significant departure from tradition; not having occurred for over four centuries.

Evidently one of the reasons that the Conclave takes so long to complete its task is due to a lack of understanding among the 115 Cardinals of each other9. Highly-innovative corporations such as GE make it a point to hold events during which executives from around the world are able to meet, get some training, and share their backgrounds. Collaboration is encouraged on a continuous basis.

Financial scandals have occupied the attention of the Church and its followers. The Church maintains a very high degree of opaqueness thus raising suspicions that there are issues to be covered up. Corporations are much more transparent today than ever before. Transparency is now a part of a corporation’s value system, assisted or required by national and international codes of practice. The Church ‘must modernize the Roman Catholic Church’s fiancés or risk the Vatican’s access to the global banking system, undermining its moral authority and financial stability’10.

Management per se seems missing in the training of Bishops and Priests and, one presumes for those in the Curia. The Church organization is immense and yet training for those appointed to administer (a better word is manage) the Church seems lacking. Highly-innovative companies, in addition to hiring well-educated managers continue to invest heavily in training. Church management seems stuck in the pre 20th century negative values towards those in ‘trade’. Management was not then worth teaching!

Alleged divisions within the Church confirm that change – innovation - is one the largest policy/faith issues faced by the Church at this time in its history. Management practices can either help or hinder change – innovation.

Debate about policy issues has, one might conclude, sapped the energy of the organization from moving ahead. In short, the view of those calling for change is that the Church is simply out- of-date in its policies and practices and, in spite of the obvious negative outcomes, seems unwilling to change – to innovate.

American Catholics overall are split on whether the next Pope should maintain traditional positions of the Church or move in new directions. Two-thirds of those who attend Mass at least once a week prefer that the Pope maintain traditional positions, while half of those who attend less frequently favor moving the Church in new directions11. This is the

‘Innovation Dilemma’.

9 The New York times, March 7, 2013, The Next Pope and the Future Church, To the Editor 10 The New York Times, March 9, 2013, Power Struggle on Reforming Vatican Bank 11 Pew Research Centre; U.S. Catholics: Key Data from Pew Research, February 25, 2015 5

How does a faith-based institution innovate? The view forward is not clear. Leadership and innovation are critical components to the way forward. Without the leadership of the Church calling for innovation, of whatever form, there is little likelihood of change and an inevitable decline can be the only result.

Our review of the management practices within the Catholic Church reveals an organization which, by comparison with highly-innovative corporations, is out-of –date. Based on our ‘CIOScore’12, reforms to its management practices relating to innovation need significant updating.

The next section provides some thoughts on what might be done to approach innovation in the Catholic Church. Subsequent sections of this paper delve into the reasons for proposing these ‘thought starters’.

Thought Starters for Innovative Actions

The Pope’s overall responsibilities are almost beyond belief13. No doubt structural organizational arrangements have been over the years to accommodate the growth of the Church and meet new challenges but its current structures and management practices seem outmoded when compared to the best practices of highly-innovative corporations.

Possible modifications to organizational and management practices, whether to address non-faith or faith issues, are set out below.

The Pope should be distanced from day-to-day administration. Just as in a government or in a corporation there is split in the roles of policy and external communication from those of direct day-today management. Government and private sector organizational arrangements are worth noting. A government model would have a Minister and reporting to him a Deputy Minister whose job is often – not always - to keep the Minister out of trouble. In the corporate model the split in roles of a CEO from a COO is an example which is often applied. There is also often a split in the roles played by a Chairman of the Board and the CEO, and becoming more common practice.

Organizationally, the physical location of retired Pope Benedict XV1, is reminiscent of the situation at Starbucks where Schultz, on deciding to ‘step down’, took a corner office in the same building as his successor, only later to step back into the role when the going got tough. Two heads, so close, just does not work. Here it seems worse, since it is intended that Georg Ganswein, Benedict’s private secretary, will also serve the new Pope14. Some ‘privacy’! Compounding this close

12 For a full explanation of the ‘CIOScore’ visit the web site; http://www.coporarateinnovationonline.com 13 In a 2011 interview on Salt and Light, the Canadian Catholic TV channel he (Cardinal Ouelett) said being Pope “would be nightmare” because of its crushing responsibility.” 14 The Economist, March 9, 20-13, Schumpeter/Pope CEO 6

relationship is the fact that a large number of Cardinals live in Rome15.

Heads of the Church are generally not trained in the management of large scale enterprises, a weakness which may now be evident. Similar training for the members of the administration in , the Curia, and its senior posts may be lacking. Training in management concepts from fields such as organization, strategy, human resource management and information management could prove valuable.

The current highly centralized and hierarchical organization needs to be examined with the thought of delegating as many of the day-to-day activities as possible. Organizations used to develop ‘Procedure Manuals’ to provide direction and delegation, now with technology, the manual is replaced with intranet information. Delegation is not inconsistent with a continuing focus on core values. Administrative enhancements available by way of introducing new technologies could contribute significantly to growing the Church globally.

Trust is one of the building blocks of innovation and is built through a process of getting to know others in an organization and emphasizing the importance of communication, collaboration and relationships. Much could be done, with and without modern technology, to encourage the sharing of information both vertically and horizontally within the organization with the idea of building trust amongst management; the Pope, Bishops and Priests – and ultimately the flock.

Initiating wire taps, ordered by the Vatican secretariat of state, on several Vatican prelates was similar to the situation at HP a few years ago. But the Vatican spokesperson referred to them as ‘nothing on a significant scale’16. Imagine a similar statement from an HP spokesperson!

Idea generation and realization, while perhaps not so easy to deal with as matters of day-to-day administration, could become of facet of a restructured, mandate for the Curia. Not all new ideas impact the core faith. A separation of ideas into faith and non-faith related ideas could do much to modernize the Church without disrupting core values.

Competition for church goers is intensifying. One of the approaches of highly-innovative companies is to analyze, in depth, the management practices of the competition. The Catholic Church is highly centralized. Islam is highly decentralized. Most highly-innovative companies find a way to decentralize management and operations in order to become, and remain, global entities. There is always the threat from niche-faith churches and their ability to collaborate and gain a greater global presence. In business, if one hears from a company that there is no competition in the market, this is often a sign that the company has not defined its market effectively let alone paid sufficient heed

15 The Economist, March 9, 2013, Schumpeter, Pope CEO 16 The New York Times, February 28, 2013, Discord Remains at Vatican as Pope Benedict Departs. 7

to competing market or technology forces.

The opaqueness or transparency of the Vatican Bank needs to be addressed and quickly. The Bank has 21,000 clients, 68% if them in the clergy and $8.2 billion in assets17. Charges related to money- laundering , insurance fraud, and limited progress in meeting minimum standards of the European Union – since the Vatican is part of the Euro zone – are pending and need resolution. Incompetence at senior levels has emerged most recently. The appointment of a Swiss firm to manage financial services inside the Vatican is hardly a show of transparency.

In summary, there are a variety of modifications, faith or non-faith, which could contribute to addressing the Church’s issues. The first stage is identifying the issue, the problem(s) and organizing to take action.

We take a look at the management practices which have been in use by highly-innovative and successful companies and provide a rating for our perception of their application to the Catholic Church, its organization and approach to innovation.

Catholic Church Innovation

By most accounts, the Catholic Church initiated by the first Pope St. Peter18 in 33, has not changed its organizational structure, management practices, or deliverables – to use a corporate term - for over four centuries up until the 1960s.

Under the term of Pope John XXIII, (1958 – 1963) innovations – deliverables - were introduced as part of the Second Vatican Council.

Allowing mass to be said in the vernacular (local language)

Encouraging the full participation in liturgical celebrations

Moving to engage the church more closely with the present world

Changing the church’s approach to ecumenism

Improving relations with non-Christian religions, particularly Judaism

Some of these changes were controversial but went ahead in any case; some were successful, some not. The changes were viewed by some as not going far enough19. The Second Vatican Council was concluded by Pope Paul V1. A Catholic Liberal, Father Hoban, in Moygownagh, Ireland characterizes the

17 Power Struggle on Reforming Vatican Bank, The New York Times, March 9, 2013 18 Simon Peter is recognized by the Catholic Church as the first Bishop of (Pope) appointed by Christ. He is the Apostle of Jesus from whom be received the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. 19 The Council, however, generated significant controversy in implementing its reforms; proponents of the "Spirit of Vatican II" such as Swiss theologian Hans Küng claimed Vatican II had "not gone far enough" to change church policies.[169] Traditionalist Catholics, such as Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, however, strongly criticized the council, arguing that the council's liturgical reforms led "to the destruction of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the sacraments," among other issues.[170] 8

shut down this way; ‘when the church hierarchy hi-jacked the devolutionary reforms of the Second Vatican Council and blocked change or implemented it badly20.

Pope John Paul II (1978 – 2005), the first non-Italian Pope (Polish) in 455 years, sought further changes seeking to evangelize the secular world, for example, by initiating World Youth Day in order to engage youth. More recently there has been a special initiative to re- evangelize lapsed Catholics in the developed world. These initiatives were in response to the disengagement of youth, and the need to engage youth from the Church amid declining

support from within the developed world.

Pope Benedict XVI was elected in a on April 19, 2005. His tenure has been controversial. Sexual scandals have reverberated throughout the Church. The Church has been strongly criticized by many for not acting swiftly or effectively. Pope Benedict, as many would say, is an intellect, a man of strong faith, holiness, but not a good administrator nor communicator on behalf of the Church. His resignation and his stated ambitions regarding the activities he is to pursue in

‘retirement’, confirm his orientation.

The debate continues; should the Church change its ways or should it hold to the course of history and hope that faith can become a more dominant part of the world of faith?

CIOs21 Profile of Management Practices Impacting Innovativeness

Recognizing that there are obvious differences between private sector corporations and a The 'CIOScore' - Distribution of "Delta' - by faith-based institution, we have rated the Theme Leadership Catholic Church’s management practices using a 25-Factor framework. The Church is ranked against our benchmark; the Best of the Best 18 16 Organization of and (BofB22). management of day- 17 to-day affairs 23 Idea generation and The Catholic Church’s overall ‘CIOScore’ is realization 137, well beyond the score of ‘60’ which, for the corporate world is the starting point for 52 Outcomes recognizing that there is a problem with the 34 organization’s management practices Other respecting innovation. ‘Delta’ for each Factor is the difference between our benchmark rating –

20 The Economist, March 9, 2013, Flocks and shepherds 21 CIO stands for Corporate Innovation Online; http://www.corporateinnovationonlline.com 22 The Best of the Best (BofB) is a rating of the 25 Factors which impact innovativeness and is based on a collage of the researched results for P&G, 3M and John Deere. For more information please visit the web site; http:www.corporateinnovationonlines.com. The larger the ‘Delta’ the greater is the difference between our benchmark – BofB – and the reality of the rated organization. 23 The ‘CIOScore’ is the sum total of the differences for all 25 Factors between our view of the management practices of the Catholic Church, in this case, and our benchmark; the Best of the Best. The larger the score the greater is the gap between what is considered a good management practice and the reality of the rated organization. 9

the BofB – and our rating of the practice as followed by the Church. The ‘CIOScore’ is the sum total for all 25 Factors.

For ease of applying and making sense of the framework of 25 Factors, the analysis and rating is set out under three themes;

leadership, organization and management of day-to-day affairs, and idea generation and realization.

The theme which contributes most negatively – see pie chart - to the Church’s overall ‘CIOScore’ is its ‘Organization and management of day-to-day affairs. ‘Other’ and ‘Outcomes’ are explained later in this paper. Scores for these three themes account for a total of 102 or 75% of this total score. We examine each of the three themes.

Organization and management of Church's organization and management of day-to-day day-to-day affairs accounts for the affairs - 'Delta'

largest part of the ‘CIOScore’24 - ‘52’

out of the total ‘137’. The

20 Staff versus line involvements. implication is that the Catholic

18 Hierarchy; centralized or decentralized.

Church does not manage its day-to-

15 Planning or action orientation. day affairs effectively as evidenced

13 Formality of decision process.

for each of the following 8 Factors.

12 Decision making is broadly based.

Specifically; 11 Use of work independent work groups.

the organization is too highly 10 Intra-firm communications formality.

Factor # # description and Factor

centralized, 6 People and their interactions there is more planning than 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 action, Rating decision processes are too formal, there is little use of the one of the typical tools of managing innovation and that is the use of independent work groups which have authority, decision making is not broadly based but is centralized at top levels, communications within the Church is too formal, and there seems be a lack of concern over ‘people and their interactions’.

Encouraging input from staff versus line persons is not rated since the distinction is unclear within the Church. Many of these Factors tend to reinforce each other. For example, a highly-centralized organization often has difficulty in making decisions within a reasonable time. Lack of communications within an organization can lead to a paralysis of action.

24 The ‘Delta’ is the difference between our rating for each Factor and the respective benchmark -BofB. 10

Idea generations and realization scores are also above the norm for corporate Church's idea generation and realization - 'Delta'

organizations. The ‘CIOScore’ for these Factors

is ‘34’, out of the total of ‘137’. The 6 Factors 23 R&D budget levels. relate to the organizations encouragement for

19 Availability of resources.

surfacing and implementing ideas – big or

small; suggestion boxes to big concepts. 14 Rewards for innovation.

8 Tolerance to a corporate norm.

Specifically there is; 5 Tolerance for failure.

little tolerance for variation from a description and # Factor

‘corporate norm’, 3 Tolerance of mavericks. little tolerance of failure, 0 2 4 6 8 10 no tolerance for mavericks, Rating a sense that funds could be available for causes which the Church could agree to support, and the existence of rewards – monetary or non-monetary - for innovation is not evident. There is little information regarding R&D budget levels but religious research would be the equivalent investment. There is no information available to indicate its magnitude.

Leadership scores, relating to innovation, are difficult to ascertain. While the ‘’CIOScore’ is ‘16’ out of the total of ‘137’, the measure is distorted by the lack of any clear indication that ‘management’; i.e. the Pope and/or the Curia, state that innovation is even important.

As most know, leadership is key to innovation in any organization so this result, Church's leadership - 'Delta' with a relatively low score, has to be looked

at from the standpoint of the Church. First

of all, little is known concerning two Factors; 9 Tolerance for risk (Planning)

#4, the emphasis placed upon cost 7 Career for and recognition of innovators.

reduction or searching for opportunities

4 Planning emphasis.

in the planning process,

#7, careers for and recognition of 2 Management's view on importance of …

Factor # and description and # Factor innovators, although one might assume 1 Management's view on profits. that this Factor would score high – meaning that there is little or no 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 recognition of innovators. Rating Management, i.e. the Curia does not, by virtue of its inaction, call for innovation. Profits do not seem to be an issue per se but the Church’s attention to financial matters is well known. Rating leadership is difficult given the integration of organizational arrangements at the top level of the Curia. Recall that this rating is for leadership’s practices with regard to innovation. Perhaps Factor #2, whether management calls for innovation, or not, says it all with regard to innovation leadership.

The remaining 6 Factors, accounting for 35 – or 25% - of the total ‘CIOScore’, deserve further explanation.

11

Factor #25 rates whether, within the organization, there are groups which either discourage or encourage innovation.

Schisms in the Church seem divided over the central issue of change - innovation. Most recent information suggests that there are strong differences between the Curia and those outside the centralized structure in Vatican City and throughout Rome. Reports of intrigue surrounding the Conclave further suggests that groups form around common interests respecting the need for change.

Factor #16, measures the internal attitude to mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures.

This Factor seems irrelevant to the Church’s business, although this was certainly part of recent Anglican Church history. Organic growth is the chosen path for the Catholic Church.

Factor #17 rates whether the organization allows for a degree of personal development or not. 3M and Google, for example have a policy of allowing/encouraging personnel to undertake personal development projects on company time.

It is clear in that the Church’s requirement for chastity, and non-engagement with the same sex, clearly calls for individuals to be totally devoted to the Church. In addition, a religious priest takes "vows" of poverty - to relinquish personal ownership and share possessions; chastity--not just to forego marriage as the vow of celibacy requires (which all priests take) but to strive for God- centered love; and obedience--to spread the gospel where requested. Sisters, nuns, as members of a religious order of women take vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience.

Factors #21, 24, and 22 are a measure of the outcomes of the sum total of management’s practices which encourage, or discourage, innovation.

- F#21; retention of innovators, is a single indicator of the atmosphere in the organization for innovation but, as a measure, needs to be coupled with the notion of being able to attract new blood to the organization. - F#22; asks whether the organization has a reputation for innovation. - F#24; provides a perspective on whether the trend in innovation is up or down.

Clearly, the Church has a problem with innovation as viewed from the developed world, less so from the developing world. The Church, as seen by most, does not have a tradition of innovation and relative to a changing world, the trend in innovation is at best flat. The developed world – U.S.A., Canada, Europe and the U.K. - would have the view that innovation is on the decline or, at best, flat. The developing world – Africa and South America (ex Brazil) would likely have an opposite opinion.

In summary, the high ‘CIOScore’ results from a negative rating – a high ‘Delta’ when compared with the Best of the Best – for almost all 25 Factors. Several of the Factors were not rated as it was difficult to judge the situation given a lack of information or insight.

F#7: whether there are career opportunities for innovators seems self evident but was not rated. F#23; R&D budget levels –- for which there is no known information. 12

F#4; the emphasis on planning (does the organization look for opportunities or focus on cost reduction). F#20; staff versus line involvements was difficult to rate given lack of knowledge or insight into the managerial inner workings of the Church.

It is, however, likely that the Church would, should information be forthcoming, be rated low relative to the benchmark – the BofB – resulting in an even higher ‘CIOScore’.

Some would argue that the benchmark chosen for this review is too high a standard to apply to the Catholic Church at this time in its history. Nevertheless, the benchmark can be useful in identifying areas of most concern from a corporate perspective and can be used as a measure of progress in the future. Closing the ‘gap’ is the priority! Progress in itself can be a motivator for taking even more corrective action.

The Pope’s first task is to surround himself with a ‘management team’ of trusted people who are prepared to take action to address both large and small issues. If the Church were a corporation the next step would be to develop an overall strategy. With input from the flock, Dynamic priests, bishops and the Curia; a strategic Strategy document, or the equivalent, that enlightens the way forward is a necessity for growth and Innovation development. Growth Development

Effective Management Practices 13

Appendix A

Organization of the Church – from a management and corporate perspective

Highly-innovative corporations employ a set of management practices and organizational structures which are conducive to innovation. Practices do not stultify innovation. Concepts such as minimizing hierarchy, decentralization, responsibility and accountability are part of the structure. More recently, issues of governance and oversight have come to the fore along with the need for transparency and openness; for example the splitting of the roles of Chairman and CEO. Further, large corporations are rolling out their businesses internationally aiming at the big markets of Brazil, China, and India. The Catholic Church has similar international objectives.

As part of examining the organization of the Church it is obviously very important to recognize at least some of the major differences between a faith-based organization and a corporate organization. In the Catholic Church25 the following represent some of these differences.

Christ is the head of every local Church- there is no human head.

The CEO is the appointed head of the corporation and reports to a Board of Directors which represents shareholder interests.

The Bible is the only written creed, rather than a man-made written creed.

Most corporations will have statement respecting core values and its overall mission, but these statements are subject to review and modification as need arises.

Each local church is autonomous and self-governing.

Subsidiaries of large corporate enterprises are often delegated with significant responsibilities and accountability to run their own show – but always within the guidelines, policies and practices agreed to with the corporate entity.

There are no organizational ties between local churches.

Subsidiaries will usually make every effort, encouraged by the corporate entity, to collaborate, meet, and share viewpoints regarding almost any corporate or local issue.

25 http://www.bible.ca/ntx-elders-pastors-bishops.htm 14

The last two precepts seem in conflict with the way that the Church is organized and manages its affairs. While each local church may be autonomous and self governing in some ways, it is hard to square this seeming delegation with the Rome-centric administration. Organizational ties among local churches are important as evidenced by the most recent attempts at grass root movements stemming from the concerns of local churches in the U.S. In the U.S., bishops meet twice a year26 and no doubt discuss local and broader issues impacting religious practices.

How do these developments and management practices square with the practices of the Catholic Church? - Catholic Church Organization

The Pope governs27 the Church through the Curia – part of the Holy See28 - which consists of a complex of offices that administer church affairs.

Cardinal Bertone, appointed in September2006, is the equivalent of a prime minister. Cardinal Mamberti, who was appointed at the same time, acts as the minister of foreign affairs.

Only the latter and his administration are located within Vatican City, all others are located in different parts of Rome. The population of Vatican City is 921 all of whom are Catholic but this number is augmented by an additional roughly 2100 persons located throughout Rome.

Curial institutions abound; the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, , Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples and the for Justice and Peace. Three exercise judicial power. The Prefecture for the Economic Affairs of the supervises the administration of all offices, whatever their degree of autonomy.

With respect to levels of hierarchy, the Church is, on paper, surprisingly decentralized. There are only three levels of control; World head, Diocese head and the local church29. Structurally, the Pope is head of the Church with Bishops (2946 diocese, cathedrals) reporting to him. In turn Priests in 219, 583 parishes report to the Bishops.

There are close to one billion members of the Church reporting, in a sense, to the Priests. From an organizational point of view this represents few layers when compared to almost any larger corporation.

The Curia, the organization through which the Pope governs, is a complex inter-relationship of various institutions. Its responsibilities cause one to reconsider the concept of three levels in the Church and the degree of central control exercised by the Curia and the Pope. The variety and range of functions

26 The New York Times, March 7, 2013, The Next Pope and the Future Church 27 Wikipedia 28 Holy See: A term that refers to the pope and the --the Vatican and offices that are responsible for the day-to-day handling of Church affairs and resources worldwide. In the Bible, there was no organization larger than the local church. 29 www.bible.ca 15

performed include;

Oversight of doctrine The appointment of bishop world wide Overseeing activities International and peace issues Judicial appeals Closing of parishes Removing someone from office Overseeing matters of conscience, such as granting of absolutions, dispensations, commutations, Condonations30 Favors Indulgences Finance and properties matters, audiences and ceremonies

All of these activities are, with some exceptions no doubt, centralized geographically in Rome.

While the levels of authority appear to be few – 3 in number – it is clear that the administration and management of programs, policy and much administrative detail is embraced by the Curia. From a management perspective, there is little delegation, authority or accountability - which normally goes along with delegation - outside of the Curia.

The Pope’s titles portray the breadth and depth of his responsibilities;

Bishop of the City of Rome, Vicar of Jesus Christ, Successor of St. Peter, universal bishop over all other bishops, Primate of Italy etc.

The Pope holds three positions in the Church; 1- a priest who preaches, 2 - Bishop of the Diocese of the City of Rome and 3 - head of the universal church. The Pope is the “Ruler of the Bishops”. The hierarchy is headed by the Bishop of Rome, the Pope, and encompasses Latin and Eastern Catholic Churches.

An Archbishop has no power over other bishops outside his own diocese. In power terms, there is only one man who can "fire" a bishop: the Pope, who appointed him in the first place. In sum, the Pope holds three separate ‘line’ responsibilities’; Head of Bishops, Head of Diocese and Head of Parish. Bishops hold two offices; Head of Diocese and Head of the Parish. Priests are head of the Parish.

Matters some to a standstill during the election process for a new Pope; recognition of the influence of the office of the Pope. Canon law, under the Holy See, prohibits the College and the Camerlengo31 from introducing any innovations or novelties in the government of the Church on the occasion of the death of a pope or in Benedict’s case, his resignation. Decisions must await the appointment of a Pope. More

30 To overlook, forgive, or disregard (an offence) without protest or censure. 31 The Camerlengo administers properties and finances 16

recently Pope Benedict XV1 changed church law to allow the cardinals to start the conclave before the traditional 15-day waiting period; yet another indication of the power of the Pope.

In terms of numbers, the overall structure32 comprises one Pope, 2,946 Bishops/Dioceses and 219,583 Priests/Parishes33 There are a total of at least 30 Roman Catholic denominations in the world.

The structure of the Catholic Church is enormous34. The total number of Dioceses – referred to as Mother churches over parishes is 2946, and the total number of Priests/Parishes – referred to as local churches is 219,583. Examples by select country are set out below.

Geographic Dioceses Parishes Population in Percentage Catholics Priests Area millions Catholic Italy 225 25,294 59.7 96.5 57.6 USA 194 19,081 285.5 22.6 64.6 France 98 18,844 58.9 75.5 44.5 Canada 71 4,865 29.5 44.3 13.1 Spain 70 22,680 42.3 87.8 37.2 Great Britain 32 3099 56.3 8.5 4.8 Ireland 26 1,312 5.5 76.1 4.2

World 2946 219,583 412,236

Catholic Priests: Some Facts Related to the Roman Catholic Church35. Catholic priests currently number over 400,000 worldwide. Of these, approximately 65% are considered diocesan priests (assigned to specific parishes within geographic regions) and 35% are considered religious priests (not necessarily assigned to a specific church community). It is now estimated that there are over 1 billion Roman Catholics in the world, representing over 17% of the global population. Although there is no church wide census, and there are various criteria for determining membership, scholars now estimate that Roman Catholics comprise nearly fifty percent of all "Christians" in the world. In 2001, there were approximately 63.7 million Roman Catholics in the .

Bishops (2,946), there is one Bishop per diocese – but could be assisted by other Bishops who rank under him as servants. There is no difference in rank between an Archbishop and a Bishop since the Archbishop has no power over other Bishops outside his diocese. The local church where a Bishop resides is known as a Cathedral (Mother Churches), An Archbishop is a bishop who controls a larger than average territory. There are no organizational ties on a national, provincial or state level. All Bishops are equal the world over.

32 The best way to think of a Cardinal is a cabinet member in the British or Canadian Government. The prime minister is like the Pope with total control. But there are also hundreds of elected officials called "Members of Parliament". Each "Members of Parliament", corresponds to a Bishop and rules over a specific territory. From this pool of elected "Members of Parliament", the Prime minister chooses his "Cabinet" of about 15 men to fill positions like, "Defense Minister", "Trade Minister", "Environment Minister". These 15 cabinet members correspond to "Cardinals". Just as Cabinet members have no power over other "Back Benchers" (non-cabinet members) so too Cardinals have no power over other Bishops. So Cardinals are Bishops with additional privilege but do not rank over anyone outside their own diocese. Cardinals act as an advisory panel for the Pope and elect the new pope when the current one dies. 33 http://www.bible.ca/catholic-church-hierarchy-organization.htm 34 http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/country/sc1.html, 2005 data. 35 http://www.allaboutreligion.org/catholic-priests.htm 17

There is one Priest for each of the 219,583 Parishes and each Parish has its own geographic territory. He answers to only two men; his Bishop and the Pope. Only two men can fire a Priest; the Pope or the bishop who appointed him.

Cardinals, an honorary title, are chosen by the Pope from Bishops but have no power in the Catholic Church and are not over Bishops or Priests. Cardinals, up until age 80, can vote for the election of a new Pope. The statement that Cardinals have no power must be taken with a grain of salt.

The Church is also the largest non-governmental provider of education and medical services in the world. The Church runs 70,544 kindergartens with 6.5 million pupils, 93 thousand primary schools with 31 million pupils and 44 thousand secondary schools with 17.8 million pupils. The Church runs charity and healthcare centers around the world; 5,305 hospitals – most of them (1694) in America - and 18,179 dispensaries again with most (5762) in America.

In 2001, the Holy See had a revenue of 422.098 billion Italian lire (about 202 million USD at the time), and a net income of 17.720 billion Italian lire (about 8 million USD).[7] According to an article by David Leigh in the Guardian newspaper, a 2012 report from the Council of Europe identified the value of a section of the Vatican's property assets as an amount in excess of €680m (£570m); as of January 2013.

The table below provides a full description of the various positions over the period 1970 to 2010.

World Data 1970 1995 2010 Total Priests 419,728 404,750 412,236 Diocesan priests 270,924 262,418 277,009 Permanent deacons 309 22,390 39,564 Religious sisters 1,004,304 837,961 721,935 Parishes 191,398 220,077 221,055 Parishes without a priest pastor 39,431 60,705 49,172 Catholic population 653.6m 989.4m 1.196b Percentage of world population 18% 17% 17%

Trends within a select number of countries are provided below.

Within the U.S., recent trends have been as follows.

United States data 1965 2012 Total Priests 58,632 38,964 Religious sisters 179,954 54,018 Parishes 17,637 17,644 Parishes without a resident pastor 549 3,389 Catholic population (self identified, survey based) 48.5m 78.2m

Priests. After skyrocketing from about 27,000 in 1930 to 58,000 in 1965, the number of priests in the United States dropped to 45,000 in 2002. By 2020, there will be about 31,000 priests--and only 18

15,000 will be under the age of 70. Right now there are more priests aged 80 to 84 than there are aged 30 to 34.36 Sisters. 180,000 sisters were the backbone of the Catholic education and health systems in 1965. In 2002, there were 75,000 sisters, with an average age of 68. By 2020, the number of sisters will drop to 40,000--and of these, only 21,000 will be aged 70 or under. In 1965, 104,000 sisters were teaching, while in 2002 there were only 8,200 teachers. For decades, so few men have become priests that in many cases, such as within the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, a priest is not assigned to every parish, however, there is a priest available sacramentally. Mass attendance has declined by over a third since 196037

Within the U.K. recent trends have been as follows.

“Britain is showing the world how religion as we have known it can die,” Callum Brown told the Chicago Tribune. Brown is a historian at the University of Dundee in Scotland. He was pessimistic about the future, observing that after two generations of people with little experience of regular church participation, it will be difficult to turn the situation around.38 The Chicago Tribune newspaper last May 11 examined the crisis of faith in Britain. The article noted that 72% of the British people called themselves Christian in the 2001 census, but only 8% regularly attend services. The number of Christians is down by 12 percentage points since 200139 Average Sunday attendance has fallen for the past 20 years

Within South America, recent trends have been as follows.

The percentage of Catholics declined slightly in South America from 28.54 percent to 28.34 percent of the regional population, and dropped considerably in Europe from 24.05 percent to 23.83 percent. In Southeast Asia and Africa, the percentage of Catholics increased in 2010 by just less than half a percentage point. The Region is home to about 40% of the Catholic Church

Within Africa, recent trends have been as follows.

There were only 29 million Catholics in Africa in 1962- the year that the Second Vatican began – and today there are 186 million. Africa has 40,000 priests, up from 15,000 is 1962 and 700 bishops, up from 40040.

36 The statistics are originally from Kenneth Jones' Index of Leading Catholic Indicators. www.bible.ca 37 The Economist, March 9, 2013, Flocks and shepherds 38 Latest Statistics for the Catholic Church in England and Wales. From Thomas in England Christmas 2007 Update 39 The Economist – March 9, 2013 40 The Globe and Mail, March 12, 2013, African Cardinals to present a united front